


This and Then Everything Else

by amethystfox



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Christian is a troll, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Jan and Toby are bros, Parenthood, Short & Sweet, Toby is the best daddy, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22720729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amethystfox/pseuds/amethystfox
Summary: Toby becomes a father.
Kudos: 10





	This and Then Everything Else

**Author's Note:**

> This is pure, unadulterated, saccharine fluff, written in honor of Toby and his wife welcoming their second child earlier today. And also because it's Valentine's Day and I just felt like writing some fluff. 😁
> 
> As with my other Spursfics, there's a couple of lines of not-English. Translations are at the end.

4 September 2018  
London

Toby leaned over and kissed Shani on the forehead gently. She was half asleep, the sheer exhaustion of the last day or so showing itself on her beautiful face. Toby carefully eased the tiny bundle from her arms, hoping to let her rest.

Shani stirred and mumbled something. "I've got her," he whispered to her in Dutch. "You sleep, my love."

Shani's eyes fluttered open briefly, then they drifted closed again, a ghost of a smile on her lips as her weary body relaxed in the hospital bed.

Toby retreated to the chair in the corner with his entire world safely nestled in his arms. He made himself comfortable, and began a meticulous inspection of his newborn daughter.

She was, as he had hoped, completely perfect. Her fingers and toes were so tiny, so exquisitely formed, that Toby had a hard time believing they were real. Every feature of her face looked like it had been sculpted by angels. Her hair was so fine, so soft, that Toby was almost afraid to touch it.

He had no idea how long he sat there, utterly captivated by her, when he heard a quiet knock on the door.

_ "Mogen we binnenkomen?" _ whispered a familiar voice. The door eased open and Jan, Mousa, Christian, and Michel filed in. A smile broke across Toby's face at the sight of them. Jan was carrying a large bouquet of flowers, Mousa a bunch of pink and silver balloons, Christian several gift bags, and Mich an oversized teddy bear.

_ "Ja, ja, kom binnen," _ he answered. "Just be quiet, Shani is asleep."

The boys set down their gifts and crowded around Toby, who stood up to greet them.

"This is Ayla," he said softly, moving forward to let them all see the baby.

"Toby, she's beautiful," Jan murmured. "I would love to hold her, but I have a feeling you won't let go of her yet, eh?"

Toby grinned at him. "Not just yet, no," he replied. "I've been waiting much too long to be willing to share just yet."

The boys chuckled softly at this. Mousa reached over and ruffled Toby's hair, earning himself a glare.

"Hey now, just because my hands are full doesn't mean you get to touch the hair."

"Yes, it does," Mich snorted. "For once you can't stop us." He reached for Toby's hair, but Toby hastily sat back down, leaning his head away from his friend and scowling.

Chris gave a little laugh. "Careful there, Mich," he teased. "You might get a finger bitten off if you're not careful."

"Ah, lay off him, lads," Jan said, his eyes still on the baby. "Being a new father should grant at least some immunity."

"Thank you, Jantje," Toby said, grinning. "For that, you definitely get to be the first one to hold her." He paused. "In a bit."

The guys fell silent for a minute, all admiring the newborn. Toby's heart was so full he thought it might burst. He had never felt so happy in his life, not after any victory on the pitch, no matter how hard-fought. Not even the day Shani had first told him she loved him, or on their wedding day. He had thought at the time that he couldn't possibly love anybody more than he did her, but he realised now how wrong he had been.

Looking down at the baby's face, he thought he understood a bit better. Football, fame, success, money… they all paled in comparison to this. He knew without a doubt that he would do anything for this brand new person asleep in his arms. He would give anything for her, move mountains for her, die for her.

He looked up, suddenly overwhelmed, to find Jan watching him, a knowing smile on his face. Toby cleared his throat, but the thickness remained in it. "Is this… I mean… did you feel this way? When Leyla was born?"

"Oh, yes," Jan answered, not needing any more context than that. "There's nothing like it in the world."

The others nodded agreement, smiling fondly as they recalled the births of their own children. Chris, who was the most recent new father, pulled out his phone to scroll through the pictures of his own infant son.

"I just…" Toby paused as his vision blurred suddenly. "I just feel like… I may never want to do anything else ever again except hold her. How can I possibly care about anything else? Even football."

The boys exchanged glances. "It's hard," Mousa confessed. "Your priorities will be different. But you'll find that you have enough heart for both, for Ayla and for…"

"For the rest of the world," Chris put in, grinning. "That's how it felt for me. There's my family and then there's everything else."

"For now, just enjoy this," Mich advised. "For today, don't think about anything else but this, your daughter, your wife. Everything else can wait, even football."

Jan squatted beside Toby's chair and put an arm around his shoulders. "You’re going to be a great father, Tobes. Don’t ever doubt it. You’ll make mistakes, and you’ll probably feel like shit about them. But no one can be perfect all the time. As long as you love this little girl with every breath you take, then she’ll be a very lucky little one, yeah?”

The others nodded agreement. Toby couldn’t speak. 

  
  


***

  
  


The others came by as well, scattered over the next day or so, many of them with gifts. Dele and Eric came together, naturally, followed shortly by the rest of the English boys in twos and threes. Hugo brought an odd-looking set of soft rubber toys with French names, Winks a blanket that his mum had knitted, Fernando a beautifully embroidered layette from Spain. The Argentine boys filled their freezer with enough food to keep them going for half a year. Even the gaffer came, with a tiny football and a set of Spurs home kit bodysuits.

Other friends and family came to visit as well, of course, with more gifts and more food. Toby's brothers bickered so much over who got to hold the baby that Toby had to threaten to kick them both out if they couldn't be quiet. Jan, who had kept quite close, was smug about how much he had already gotten to hold Ayla, forcing Toby to have to threaten him with similarly dire consequences if he couldn't refrain from winding up Ayla's uncles.

Finally, though, the parade of well-wishers died down, until at last Toby and Shani were alone again with their daughter, cuddling on the couch.

"I love you," Toby whispered to his wife, kissing her forehead.

She smiled at him, her face still drawn and tired. As they had expected, Ayla had not let them get much sleep as yet. But even exhausted, without makeup, hair messy, Toby could not imagine a more gorgeous woman in the world.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

There wasn't much more that needed to be said, really. Toby wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter and let himself enjoy the moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Mogen we binnenkomen - May we come in  
> Ja, ja, kom binnen - Yes, yes, come in
> 
> Standard disclaimer: I am not a Dutch speaker, so if I've messed this up, please tell me!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️


End file.
